


Ancient Runes

by LadyKes



Series: POV [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Yule Ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7769737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKes/pseuds/LadyKes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How did Hermione feel about the Yule Ball?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ancient Runes

Hermione stood in front of the mirror in her dorm analyzing her appearance. Overall, she was quite pleased with the blue robes she’d chosen. They neither billowed like Trelawney’s chiffon nor looked like she’d stuffed herself into a sausage casing. Her hair was less satisfying, and she’d settled for simply putting it into a bun after spending far too much time and expensive hair products attempting to tame it. 

The mirror had evidently also decided she’d spent too much time fussing, because it said in a motherly voice, “You look lovely, dear. Go on down and meet your young man.” Hermione chuckled at the thought of Viktor Krum being referred to as her “young man”, but it did have something of a nice ring to it. She slipped the unfamiliar heels on and headed out the door, carefully navigating the stairs in order to neither trip on her robes nor fall on her face due to the heels.

As she rounded the corner before the final flight of stairs to the spot she and Viktor had agreed to meet at, she got her first glimpse of him. Oh, my, he did look quite fetching. What was it about a man in dress robes? Hard on that thought was the observation that Viktor was fidgeting. Apparently he wasn’t any more comfortable being dressed-up than the average male. 

She must have involuntarily giggled, because Viktor looked up at her and his mouth literally dropped open. Clearly he found her attire to be attractive, which sent a nice warm glow through her. He recovered soon enough and approached, sweeping a low bow before kissing her hand lightly and offering his arm. She took it and carefully walked with him down the final flight of steps, unfortunately tripping on the last. After she regained her balance, they looked at each other and smiled. As soon as they did, the odd tension that had been there was gone.

“You are looking beautiful tonight, Miss Granger,” Viktor said formally, but with a smile to soften the formality of it. She enjoyed that even though he knew her first name, he still called her by her last name periodically. It was very courtly of him, but then she’d noticed he had a gallant streak about a mile wide, so it made sense.

She smiled and responded, “And you are looking similarly handsome, Viktor.” 

They walked through to the Great Hall and as they passed through the doorway, her hand involuntarily tightened on his arm. All those people, and what if she made a fool of herself? What if she couldn’t dance correctly? What if everyone laughed at her appearance? 

Her burgeoning fit of anxiety was halted by Viktor placing his hand over hers on his arm and smiling at her before saying, “You are the most beautiful voman in the room and I am luckiest man to be standing next to you.”

With a compliment like that, she couldn’t help but smile, although she continued to be astonished that Viktor found her so attractive. In her mind she was a bushy-haired know-it-all, but apparently in his mind she was not. She decided she quite liked his mind.

They stepped onto the floor to open the ball and Hermione noticed Viktor hesitating before deciding how close to hold her during the waltz. It was so sweet that he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by holding her closer than she might wish. He pulled her just a bit closer than he had apparently originally decided, which made her stiffen in surprise, but soon she soon relaxed into his capable arms. They danced silently, although she did notice Viktor darting one glance down and then immediately shifting his gaze to her chin. Looking down, she realized that her robes were decent from her perspective, but might not be so decent when you were as tall as Viktor. Somehow, though, she couldn’t quite care that he might have seen more of her than she intended.

When the next song began, Viktor tugged her just a bit closer, so that she was actually brushing against his chest at certain points during the dance, which sparked all sorts of interesting sensations. She was working on analyzing those sensations when she suddenly felt her foot being trod upon. She winced and moved away from the offending feet just before the music ended. 

Viktor was looking quite sheepish about stepping on her toes and said “I am sorry, Herminee. I varned you about feet, did I not?”

She couldn’t help but laugh before responding, “It’s fine, Viktor. I’ll probably step on your feet at some point this evening, and then we’ll be even.”

Viktor looked to be contemplating this statement before saying teasingly, “Vell, I do not think I vould like that, but you have small feet, so I probably vill not be permanently injured.”

“That’s good, since Ron and Harry would probably have my head if I maimed Bulgaria’s star seeker,” she responded, thinking that she hadn’t talked to either of those young men tonight, nor had she seen them. Viktor appeared to be thinking along the same lines she was, because he’d begun to steer her towards the group that contained Harry and Ron. Harry smiled at them, but Ron glared at her. 

“Hi Harry, Hi Ron!” she exclaimed before adding “You two look nice tonight,” which wasn’t strictly true since Ron’s dress robes were truly hideous. Harry did look nice, although his date appeared to think she was in one of the circles of Hell for some reason.

Harry smiled and said in a rather wondering tone, “You look amazing, Hermione! I didn’t recognize you at first.” 

Ron was still glaring at her and Viktor looked between them before appearing to decide that he was probably not welcome at this particular moment.

“Herminee, I vill get something for us to drink. Vhat would you like?”

“Just punch, thank you, Viktor,” she responded, trying to smile before adding, “And avoid the spiked kind,” thinking that since Fred and George were there, spiking the punch was almost inevitable.

Viktor bowed and headed for the punchbowl, barely more than five meters away before Ron exploded and said, “Hasn’t he asked you to call him Vicky yet?” The conversation went downhill from there and what followed was an absolutely blazing row, made worse by being held in low, hissed tones in an attempt to avoid making a spectacle of themselves. Finally Ron simply left and Hermione sat down at a nearby table, cursing Ron’s ability to ruin a perfectly wonderful evening with his stupidity.

Viktor came back, holding the punch, and sat down next to her, offering her a cup before asking sympathetically, “Herminee, vhat is matter?”

“It’s Ron, he’s being so stupid, thinks you’re the enemy,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Viktor seemed puzzled at this idea and said, “Enemy? I am not enemy.”

She laid a hand on his and said, “I know. I think he’s jealous, actually.” As she thought about it, she was sure Ron was jealous, although she didn’t want to think why he might be jealous. She had a feeling their difference of opinion about Viktor wasn’t over, though.

Viktor appeared to agree with her assessment, saying “Perhaps so. Vould you like to dance again?” in a relatively neutral tone.

“Yes, I think I’d like to,” she responded, standing and wondering if the cup would disappear if she simply placed it on the table. Honestly, you’d think the house elves would want more dignified jobs than being glorified trash collectors, cooks, and maids.

They danced the next few traditional songs before the tone of the Ball changed in Dumbledore’s attempt to appease the younger students with rather loud, fast music. Hermione enjoyed dancing to this type of music as well, and it was a wonderful way to avoid thinking about Ron and his stupidity. Viktor, however, seemed a bit lost, although he faked it quite well and soon looked just like any other male on the floor.

Finally the ball ended and it was time to go back to the real world. Viktor escorted her back up to Gryffindor Tower despite her token protest that she was perfectly capable of finding the way herself, given that she’d lived there for four years. When they reached the landing outside the portrait hole, she simply looked up at him, unsure of what to do next. Did they kiss? Hug? Shake hands? She didn’t really know.

“I had a vonderful time, Herminee. Perhaps ve can do this again?” Viktor asked hopefully.

“Well, I think this is the only Yule Ball, but yes, I’d love to spend more time with you,” she responded, feeling herself blush.

Viktor appeared to come to a decision and bent down, clearly intending to kiss her cheek, but some devil inside Hermione made her turn her head at the last moment so that he actually kissed her mouth. Viktor stiffened, obviously not expecting her to take the initiative, but soon relaxed into the kiss, his hands encircling her waist and fingers stroking her lower back. Her hands had headed for his short hair seemingly of their own accord. She felt his tongue against her lips and parted her own, allowing him to deepen the kiss before he suddenly broke the kiss and stepped away, breathing a little more heavily. She was not the most collected she’d ever been, for that matter. She wondered why he’d chosen that precise moment to end the kiss, but decided perhaps he wanted to maintain control of himself, which she respected.

She smiled gently at Viktor before turning and stepping through the portrait hole and going to her dormitory, reliving the night from the moment she first saw him to that first kiss, giggling again at the fact that she had actually technically kissed him rather than him kissing her. She wasn’t usually that bold, but somehow it had just felt right to turn her head into the kiss.

She stood in front of the mirror, carefully removing the pins from her hair and working her way out of her robes. The mirror seemed slightly sleepy, but said, “And did you have a good time tonight, dear?”

Hermione smiled back at it and said, “I most certainly did,” before climbing into bed and putting out the light, not even bothering with her nightly chapter of Rune Theory. Just this once, the Runes could wait.


End file.
